


The Accidental Consequences of Converting

by respoftw



Series: 2018 Hurt/Comfort Bingo [7]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Accidental Bonding, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Related, Episode: s02e08 Conversion, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-04
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-06-21 17:50:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15563196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/respoftw/pseuds/respoftw
Summary: Iratus bugs mate for life





	The Accidental Consequences of Converting

**Author's Note:**

> Not one for the happy ever after McSheppers, sorry!

Rodney hadn’t expected anyone to find him; hadn’t, if truth be told, expected anyone to even look.Maybe John would have at one point.Before Doranda for sure; before the latest curveball that the Pegasus Galaxy had thrown them, maybe.But they weren’t _before_ anymore, they were _after_ and Rodney really hated the after.

 “Dr McKay?May I please speak with you?”

 Rodney hadn’t expected Teyla to track him down but maybe he should have.Teyla was a good person, certainly a better person than he was.She didn’t deserve the level of anger he felt towards her right now - her life had been turned just as upside down as his own after all - but anger was rarely rational.Feelings were rarely rational and Rodney was chock full of them right now, full to the brim and threatening to spill. 

 Rodney didn’t turn around at her interruption, just continued to stare out at the city.The balcony he had found himself on was in a part of the city that they hadn’t opened up yet and the view was different enough that Rodney could lose himself in it, the sun gleaming off the water and hitting the spires at just the right angle to send a spray of rainbow-like refracted light when he held his head just so.

 “Please, Rodney,” Teyla tried again, sounding closer than she had before.The touch of her hand on his arm wasn’t wholly unexpected but Rodney still jerked at the touch, pulling his arm away from her.

 “I’d have thought you’d be more careful about who you touch considering what happened,” he said angrily, rubbing the skin of his arm.“What?Is one man not enough for you?”

 He’d said it to get a rise out of her more than anything, his anger wanting an outlet that would give back just as much as he dished out but Teyla just looked sad.

 “Do you really think so little of me?” she asked.

 Rodney wanted to say yes.He wanted to spit words of anger in her face but his anger could only go so far in masking his hurt and Teyla’s soft voice was the tipping point it took for the hurt to win.

 “I think,” Rodney said slowly, “that John couldn’t have picked a better person to spend his life with if he’d tried.”

 Teyla drew in a sharp breath.“He didn’t _choose_ me, Rodney.I find myself certain that his choice, had he been allowed to make it of sound mind and body, would have lain with you.”

 “ _Don’t_ ,” Rodney shook his head.“Don’t say that.I know you’re thinking that it’ll make me feel better but just...it doesn’t.We might have had something once but I...well, let’s just say this is pretty typical of how my love life tends to turn out.”He paused, smiling slightly at Teyla’s raised eyebrow.“Well, ok, this _particular_ situation isn’t typical but...” his smile faltered.“What about you?This has to be just as sucky for you.”

 Teyla sighed as she rested her elbows on the balcony rail.“John is a good man,” she said.“I would not see him hurt in any way if it is in my power to stop it.”

 “No,” Rodney mused.“I don’t suppose you would. You know...” Rodney swallowed the lump in his throat, “he’s, ah, well he’s an easy man to love.”

 “Oh, Rodney,” Teyla turned, reached out and stroked his cheek.“I would give anything to not - -“

 “Just...look out for him, ok?I know he’s gonna be beating himself up about this and I - well, let’s just say that I’m not a masochist.I can’t be there to help him through it so you gotta do it for me.”

 “I will try my best,” she whispered.“For all of our sakes.”

 Rodney shut his eyes tight as he let Teyla pull him close, their foreheads touching in the traditional Athosian way.

 He really did mean what he’d said.If John had to be with anyone else, he couldn’t have picked better. 

 It didn’t mean that it wasn’t killing him inside.

 But, if he had a choice between watching John suffer from losing the person his Iratus-bugged our genes had chosen as his mate or watching him be happy with someone else...well, maybe Rodney was a masochist after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I had such a hard time coming up for a fill for this prompt (possibly because it's too close in subject matter to my last fill) and then melagan suggested bug!John. So, I sat down to write a cute John and Rodney mate for life fic and then....this happened. (sorry)
> 
> This fills the accidental mating for life square of my H/C bingo card which you can see [here](https://respoftw.dreamwidth.org/19969.html#cutid1)
> 
> Please feel free to suggest which square I do next, I'm aiming for blackout!


End file.
